9 June 2020
Talking about Ethics
When conducting research, researchers must usually comply with a Code of Ethics. This ensures that the subjects safety are taken into account but also maintaining the integrity of the research.

Codes of ethics usually cover the following areas

·         Honesty and Integrity

·         Objectivity

·         Carefulness

·         Openness

·         Respect for Intellectual Property

·         Confidentiality

·         Responsible Publication

·         Legality

·         Animal Care

·         Human Subjects Protection

https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/research-ethics.html
The following scenarios are given and were answered in class. answers are in red.

·         You find some good images on the web that would look good on your site. You copy and paste them to your blog.
Not really an issue but it does have the potential to become one if for example you start making a financial gain off the image
Solution;
Contact the owner of the image and ask for permission to use the image. Or credit that image to the original source

·         You are in a hurry to finish an assignment and you find the perfect explanation of a difficult concept on wikipedia. You decide to copy it into your work.
The ethical issue here is copying and pasting the work essentially plagiarism. The solution to this is to take the information and understand. Then put it into a context that you can relate to.

·         You are a medical researcher and you think you have discovered a new drug that cures lung cancer. It worked well on mice although a few of them died of heart problems. You want to test it on people. You recruit 100 lung cancer patients into your treatment programme. You don’t tell them about the new drug. You treat 50 patients with usual drugs and 50 with the new drug to see which is better.
There is a serious ethical issue with this as the research thus far has in previous research has been done and some of the test subjects have died. The ethical within this scenario is whether or not potential test subjects are aware or are able to comprehend what it is that the study is going to be, the risks associated with this study. Making sure also that potential subjects are well informed and capable of comprehending what they are agreeing to. Making sure a relative or family members are well informed before committing to the project.
Either do more tests to find out how or why the mice died and then takes steps to minimise the risk but you also need to be open and honest with subjects during the recruitment process if the project gets given the green light. I would imagine there would be very strict policies guidelines etc to ensure subjects safety

·         You are doing your PhD about drug abuse among students. You interview 30 students about their drug use. You discover that one of the students is actually a fairly big time dealer and you report him to the police.
Processes and protocols would need to be implemented prior to the study in order to protect both researcher and subject as well as maintaining the integrity of the study. Anonymity is essential for the study to be successful.

·         You are a researcher looking at the effect of violent computer games on children. You recruit 20 children into your study. Over a month you regularly show them images of violence to see if it has an adverse effect on their behaviour. One of the children becomes quite distressed each time and so you stop showing her images and drop her from the study.
The ethical issue is pretty o
Survey which video games are being played by kids. Iidentify those who are playing the desired video games

·         You want to research how easy it is to hack into your organisation’s computer system by persuading people to divulge login and password details. You recruit a small team to ring up key people in the organisation and persuade them to give either their own or their boss’s details.
There is an ethical issue in the fact that you are requesting permission to essentially commit a felony.
There would have to be some very strict guidelines and rules and procedures to follow in order for this study to be approved. Permission would have to get obtained from the company and maybe even need to go further than that ie local law enforcement

·         You are doing an initial research in area of a town where may bars and pubs are located, to estimate the level of problematic social behaviour in the area. your research is independent from the police, because you want to observe their behaviour as well. You observe both abusive and violent behaviour.
Setting the boundaries of your research to ensure that the objectives of the research are met but also in ensuring that when boundaries are crossed that there are procedures in place to intervene when necessary.